Educational board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

An educational game having a playing board on which a zig-zag path is shown as a representation of a staircase from the attic of a house to the lower floor kitchen, with playing pieces which are moved on the individually marked steps of the staircase in response to the rules of the game and the determination of a random spinner. Steps of the staircase are marked with individual ingredients of recipes. Each player has a recipe card which lists all the ingredients of a particular recipe, with the object of the game being for a player to move his playing piece on those marked steps which list the ingredients corresponding to those of his recipe card.

United States Patent [191 Milana et al.

[ Mar. 26, 1974 EDUCATIONAL BOARD GAME APPARATUS [22] Filed: June 1, 1972 21 Appl. No; 258,497

[52] 11.8. C1.... 273/134 AD, 273/134 C, 273/134 E,

35/1 [51] Int. Cl. A63f 3/00 [58] Field of Search 273/134; 35/1 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,391,333 9/1921 McManus 273/134 E 1,517,847 12/1924 Llera et al 273/134 E Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Howard! I. Podell 5 7 ABSTRACT An educational game having a playing board on which a zig-zag path is shown as a representation of a staircase from the attic of a house to the lower floor kitchen, with playing pieces which are moved on the individually marked steps of the staircase in response to the rules of the game and the determination of a random spinner. Steps of the staircase are marked with individual ingredients of recipes. Each player has a recipe card which lists all the ingredients of a particular recipe, with the object of the game being for a player to move his playing piece on those marked steps which list the ingredients corresponding to those of his recipe card.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures EDUCATIONAL BOARD GAME APPARATUS SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an educational game which utilizes a playing board with a zig-zag path drawn in the representation of a staircase from the attic to the lower floor kitchen of a house. Individual player pieces are moved on the path from the start to the finish in accordance with the chance determinations made by a random spinner. The steps of the staircase which form the path are marked with the ingredients of several recipes, and with each player being provided with a particular recipe.

An objective of this invention is to provide a compet itive game for children which will stimulate interest in the art of cooking and in the learning of particular cooking recipes.

Another objective of this game is to stimulate, through a competitive game, the learning processes of children in regard to depth perception, measurement means, fractional numbers and associated subjects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING:

The objects and features of the invention may be understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, taken together with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the game board;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a section of the board, illustrating a specific marking on the board;

FIG. 3 isa perspective view of the random spinner and recipe cards; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the playing pieces employed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Turning now descriptively to the drawing, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, FIGS. 1-4 illustrate the components of the game of the invention comprising the game board 10, colored playing pieces 16R, 16B, 16Y and 166, spinner 20 and colored recipe cards 18R, 18B, 18Y and 186.

The illustrated preferred embodiment of the game is played by two to four children each of whom is identified with a specific recipe and recipe card and with the color of said recipe card. Thus the player identified with red recipe card 18R uses the red playing piece 16R; the player identified with the blue recipe card 18B uses the blue playing piece 16B; the player identified with the yellow recipe card 18Y uses the yellow playing piece 16Y; and the player identified with the green recipe card 18G uses the green playing piece 16G.

Each recipe card, such as card 18Y, shows markings 19 which list a different recipe and the ingredients for same. The game board which displays a representation of a zig-zag path 11 in the form of a staircase leading from the attic section 14 of a house to the lower floor kitchen section 15 with each step 12 of the stain case being colored in one of the four players colors, red, blue, green and yellow or else in white. Each step 12 which is colored with one of the players colors bears the markings 13 of a particular ingredient of the recipe of that color, said markings indicating the name and quantity of the ingredient utilized in the recipe. Frequently, the quantity stated is in fractional terms.

The objective of the game is for the player to advance his piece on the staircase path 11 on the playing board 10 from the starting point in the attic 14 to the finish position in the kitchen 15. The players, in their turn, rotate the spinner arm 21 of the spinner 20, which is rotatably mounted on pin 22. The: players move their pieces the number of steps 12 shown by the marking 23 of the sector 24 in which the pointer 25 of the spinner arm 21 stops. A players piece is returned to the starting position when it lands on a step 12 occupied by another players piece, with penalties occuring when a players piece lands on a step which is colored and bears the markings 13 of another players recipe. Premiums result when the piece ofa player lands on a step 12 which bears the colors and markings 13 of his own recipe.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described herein, it is indicted that all matter contained herein is intended as illustrative and not as limiting in scope.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An educational game utilizing; a game board which bears a representation of a staircase leading in a zig-zag path from the attic to a lower floor kitchen of a house, with some individual steps of the staircase being marked so as to be identified with a playing piece of a specific player, and with playing pieces which are individually marked that may be moved on said path from start to finish by the respective players in accordance with the chance determinations of a random spinner, together with recipe cards, each individually marked so as to be identified with the playing piece of a specific player, with each card listing the complete ingredients of a particular recipe, the individual steps of the staircase being marked with the name and quantity of an ingredient listed on the recipe card that is identified with the markings of said step, with the names and quantities of all the ingredients listed on all of the players recipe cards being marked on the staircase of the game board.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 in which no step of the staircase bears the markings of more than one ingredient of one recipe.

3. The combination recited in claim 2 in which some I of the marked quantities shown for the ingredients are listed in fractional terms, as a means of increasing the familiarity of the players with the use of fractions. 

1. An educational game utilizing a game board which bears a representation of a staircase leading in a zig-zag path from the attic to a lower floor kitchen of a house, with some individual steps of the staircase being marked so as to be identified with a playing piece of a specific player, and with playing pieces which are individually marked that may be moved on said path from start to finish by the respective players in accordance with the chance determinations of a random spinner, together with recipe cards, each individually marked so as to be identified with the playing piece of a specific player, with each card listing the complete ingredients of a particular recipe, the individual steps of the staircase being marked with the name and quantity of an ingredient listed on the recipe card that is identified with the markings of said step, with the names and quantities of all the ingredients listed on all of the players'' recipe cards being marked on the staircase of the game board.
 2. The combination recited in claim 1 in which no step of the staircase bears the markings of more than one ingredient of one recipe.
 3. The combination recited in claim 2 in which some of the marked quantities shown for the ingredients are listed in fractional terms, as a means of increasing the familiarity of the players with the use of fractions. 